OPENING REMARKS
Hello and welcome to our second edition of
the funnel!
After last quarter’s edition, we had a lot of comments
from different readers. One of the comments that
truly stuck with me was the importance of sharing
and communication in the corporate innovation
community. By sharing and communication, I don’t
mean trade secrets or innovative products, but
rather the process - the successes, the failures, the
hardships and the lessons learned. All corporations
are struggling with the dissonance between stability
and process in this fast-changing pace of our world,
technology and markets. We are all in the same
boat. Being able to discuss and learn from each
other can help all of us, without disrupting growth or
ruining our chances in the midst of the competition.
Such interaction can push us further forward in the
technological revolution we are all experiencing. In this
issue we looked at how very different organizations,
from the navy, to a venture fund or startup examine
and structure their innovation processes, what
challenges they are dealing with and more.
I hope you enjoy the interviews, articles and stories
we’ve chosen to share in this quarter’s edition – and I
look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Dan Balter
Managing Partner

The Funnel
shorts
F

ortnite by Epic Games Productions is the

biggest video game in history with 45 million players
worldwide (with more expected to join now that summer vacation is
about to begin). The game is expected to make 3.5 billion dollars in
revenue in 2018. The game takes place in a world where most of humanity
has died and the remaining 2% are left to fight zombies. Most of the money
is made from in-game purchases using V-bucks. The game is so popular
that, when the servers went down for maintenance on May 30, it was
reported on the main news.
The game has been taken over by other media forms like Twitch and
Youtube, where people spend hours watching others play the game. People
across the world have spent more than 5,000 years watching
Fortnite streams on Twitch over the past two weeks
alone. The huge success of the game has created entire
communities and a whole industry behind playing and watching

04 THE FUNNEL

it, pointing to new formats of interaction between
companies and their customers.

2

F

ollowing a couple of years of

controversy and under the leadership of
a new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber has declared
its intention to go public in the second half of 2019.
Khosrowshahi in outlining his vision, said Uber wants
to be the Amazon of transportation.
Part of Uberâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recent success has to do with services
adjacent to the ride-sharing core, like UberEats.
Khosrowshahi mentioned that, in the future,
he hopes Uber will become a transportation

1

platform that public transportation,
bikes and other forms of
transportation are based on.

3

V

oice operated virtual assistance

(including toilets) has also made a leap this year.
This means the way consumers perform daily
tasks, from shopping to finding out the weather or
playing music, is changing. Also changing is the way
marketers tell a story, advertise online, observe how
you interact with products and create new forms of
content. This allows the companies
making them to learn even more about
you and your habits.

IT’S ART, NOT SCIENCE
INNOVATION STRATEGY
AT FIVERR

Interview by Talya Vaish with Amit Ashkenazi, VP strategy, Fiverr
I met Amit, Vice President of Strategy at Fiverr in their
Tel Aviv HQ just as people were finishing up breakfast.
As we walked through the common area, balcony and
working spaces, Amit discussed the layout and how it
was designed to encourage connection and collaboration
between colleagues and departments. Employees are often
incentivized to work, mingle and hangout in the common
areas. This is just one of the few things the company does
to boost employee morale and camaraderie, while also
reinforcing the company’s community driven mission.
Fiverr is at that stage between its startup origin and
becoming a corporation. It has matured into a company
with multiple international locations, and more recently,
has seen enough growth and success to make its own
acquisitions. It’s a very interesting stage in the life of a
company that is outgrowing its roots.
Amit began working at Fiverr about 11 months ago as VP
of Business Strategy. He began his career as a strategic

advisor at Ernst & Young where he consulted for larger
public companies. He later moved on to Viola Group as a
partner focused on investing and helping startups at the
expansion phase. He came to Fiverr for the opportunity
to facilitate the growth and development of one company
versus working with multiple different entities. In his current
role, Amit is responsible for business development and
strategy, leading strategic initiatives (anything from M&A to
strategic products) and innovation.
Amit describes his role as the long term and outside of the
box thinker at the company, whether that means finding
new products for existing customers or unlocking new
customers to use the existing products. As Fiverr grows, the
process for innovation and building new products becomes
more challenging, therefore the company really focuses
on maintaining internal processes to encourage creative
thinking (new products, new ideas, new innovations).

Find ways to test
new initiatives
with minimal
effort to get
users’ feedback

Iterate and
optimize

Make sure the
resources to
manage the
initiative are in
place so it won’t
lose momentum
or attention

Periodic
assessment
of long term
strategy

This process is part of the internal ecosystem, rather than being seperate or removed from various departments.

07 THE FUNNEL

IT’S ART, NOT SCIENCE INNOVATION STRATEGY AT FIVERR

Amit described some this ecosystem’s guiding principles:
•

Working both bottoms up and top down to allow
anyone in the organization come up with ideas

•

Finding the right internal partners

•

Appointing focal points in each of the relevant groups
for strategic initiatives

•

Encouraging constant discussion about innovation
and market trends

•

Nurturing opinionated discussions

•

Constantly reporting on feedback

WHAT IS INNOVATION
THE FIRST STEP
Innovation is defined as a new method, idea, product, etc.
However Fiverr looks at innovation as the combination
of many different processes and departments working
together that, in turn, allow the organization to function
successfully.
These types of processes took time to develop and nurture.
Some of the things Amit does to facilitate innovation across
the company are:
•

Periodic Q&A sessions with different departments in
the offices across the world.

- In these sessions Amit discusses the priorities
for his team in hopes of sparking interest and
being challenged.

A lot of thought went into designing an ecosystem that
houses a matrix organizational structure. There isn’t one
person you need to convince but rather a group of people
who are busy with their day job and setting their own
roadmaps. It comes down to bringing in the right people
for the project and ensuring you have done all the proper
research and preparation.

FINDING THE RELEVANT FOCAL POINTS

08 THE FUNNEL

For an innovation project to be successful it is important
to first and foremost find the people that are passionate
about it.
Once an idea the company wants to innovate on emerges,
they loop in all the relevant people from the organization.
The goal is to have all parties included at the earliest
stages. This serves to create personal investment and
to make sure different perspectives and opinions are
considered at the earliest stages.

While there are always a number of different stakeholders
involved in various projects, Amit’s department typically
takes on the responsibility of moving initiatives forward.
They do this by building a roadmap and assigning goals
to the project so that it stays top of mind for those
involved. It’s also important to ensure everyone involved
understands the end goal and the impact this project will
have on the overall business.

CUSTOMER COMES FIRST
At tech companies, it’s not uncommon to hear about ideas,
projects or products that are never actually brought to
life. That’s not something Fiverr invests in; rather Fiverr
is all about making ideas happen; getting shit done. It’s a
message that trickles down to the entire organization and
ties in to Fiverr’s Doers motto - In Doers We Trust.
The first stage of every project Fiverr embarks on is
customer validation. Are we building something that the
customer wants to see built? How does the customer see
this impacting their business on Fiverr? How does the
customer see this impacting the services they purchase on
Fiverr? All these are questions that Fiverr ask its users prior
to innovating. It’s after receiving feedback from the market
that the company takes the next steps.
Fiverr has full departments where the responsibility is
to establish and maintain relationships with community
members and collect feedback - what do they like, what
they don’t like, what improvements they would like to see
made to the platform, etc. These departments ensure this
information is communicated company-wide.

MOTIVATION FOR INNOVATION
It’s not about credit. People want to be part of change and
they want to be part of the group to lead it.
The spirit of welcoming ideas and involving all employees
in innovation comes from the CEO, Micha Kaufman, who
encourages people to think creatively and think big. Amit
says one of the most common pieces of feedback Micha
gives is to “think bigger and dream bigger; it costs the
same.”

OBJECTIVES
Amit says all innovation stems from Fiverr’s mission - to
champion the entrepreneur in us all by giving entrepreneurs,
freelancers, small businesses and even enterprises the
resources they need to get things done quickly, flexibly

09 THE FUNNEL

and fearlessly. Once you have defined that objective
you can get to work on anything; whether thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s helping
freelancers start and grow their business or helping
them work more productively and on the other side of
the marketplace, lowering barriers for individuals or
small business owners to get more done faster and in
a cost effective way.

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?
One of the first tasks Amit faced coming into this
role was helping to create the ecosystem described
throughout the article. However Amit stresses that
even today with a relatively comprehensive process and
awareness amongst employees, innovation is not an
easy thing to accomplish. It takes time, it takes money
and most importantly it takes the talent. He stresses
that all workers, especially tech workers, should think
about how they can disrupt themselves so others wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
disrupt them.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

A CORPORATE DISRUPTOR

10 THE FUNNEL

By Talya Vaish

A simple google search of the word leads to more than 22 million results, most of which have to do with
innovation, discoveries, new technologies and new business models. Very few of the results lead to large
and long-lasting corporations. It’s pretty common to hear people from the startup ecosystem say they
want to be the next Uber or the next Airbnb. But you rarely hear the CEO of an established food chain or a
high-ranking government administrator aspiring to such goals. Why is this so? And shouldn’t that change?
Maybe a good place to start would be by defining what we mean when we say disruption. It’s a pretty
common buzzword nowadays, but it’s actually been around for a while. While popping up in research
since the late seventies, the concept took hold in 1997 in “The Innovator’s Dilemma” under the title of
disruptive innovation, referring to companies that are able to anticipate their clients’ future needs. In
academic research, disruption can also be found in marketing, economics, entrepreneurship, organization
theory and business management. The jaded have defined disruption as a tool for investors trying to
find opportunities to make a large profit. So disruption covers many fields and is applicable to large
established organizations just as much as smaller startups.

HOW DOES DISRUPTION WORK?
Looking back in history – technological revolutions (or disruptive revolutions) have always existed.
Discovering how to harness fire or inventing the wheel were pretty important disruptors, as were the
printing press, the railways and more. What we learn from looking at these revolutions is that they happen
with regularity and develop similarly, and that the market reacts to them in very similar patterns.

11 THE FUNNEL

We live in the age of disruption.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE A CORPORATE DISRUPTOR

THERE ARE
4 STAGES
OF DISRUPTION:
1

INCUBATION

Short bursts of innovative disruption from
smaller companies, usually short lived with
no significant impact.

Even following this pattern, not all disruption models reach all stages. It is also important to
remember that disruption affects different parts of the industry differently. For example, when
Appleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s iPhone changed the smartphone industry, it affected software and distributors but had a
significantly smaller effect on companies making the parts.

13 THE FUNNEL

FIGHT, FLIGHT OR FOSTER
Be it blockchain, AR, AI, 3D printing or space travel – how will

Build it – Either in the beginning or later stages, organizations

your organization handle the next big disruption revolution?

sometimes try to emulate the disruptive model themselves,

It seems that for many large corporations Disruption is

with varying levels of success.

something to be feared. They know their market, they rule

Attend to your core – This is about focusing on your core

their market and they don’t want it to change. A survey has

business and strengthening the original value proposition

shown that about 93% of executives expect disruption in

or lowering your prices in order to increase the number of

their market in the upcoming years but only 20% think they

potential customers.

are ready to face it.

Periods of rapid change require a different type of innovation

Organizations have different options when dealing with

strategy from organizations. Right now, GM probably feels

disruption to their market. These options fit into the

an urgency to expand its core business much more than

spectrum of ignoring it, fighting it or embracing it.

Raytheon.

Buy it out – Usually applies to

the early stages of

The main task for CEOs and innovation leaders is recognizing

disruption. New startups are bought and either dismantled

disruption in its early stages. Follow this by determining if

or incorporated into the organization.

it answers a wide enough problem so it can become a new

Invest in it – Investing in new startups in your field fits all

economic player or is just a passing trend, and by deciding

stages but works best in the earlier stages. Investing in
startups that may prove disruptive lets you play both sides.

whether it can become a threat to the current business
model and, if so, asking how the business model should

If it is successful you are part of the new market; if it fails

change to incorporate the new reality.

you haven’t risked too much.

The difficulty usually is that large organizations often take

Make it pay – Usually makes more sense in the later stages of

note of a disruption when it’s too late and then have a hard

disruption. This is when the disruption has already become

time pivoting, and so have fewer options open to them.

common enough to use regulatory and legal means to make
it less profitable. For example, Airbnb is now unwelcome in
many of the larger cities.

that has to both deal with constant enemy attack in an
area 3 times the size of the state of Israel and, more

emphasis on changing the way things are done.

recently, to defend civilian areas in the sea (oil rigs and

Ashkenazi believes that innovation needs to be part of

fields) in a hostile neighborhood. They understand that

the values the navy upholds. The way to handle these

this responsibility demands that they always be one

challenges is not necessarily to focus on technology but,

step ahead and break through the barriers traditionally

rather, to encourage innovative thinking and so is leading

associated with government or military.

an effort to do things in way that other navies are not

RAdm. Yosef Ashkenazi has a BSc in mechanical

doing.

engineering from the Technion, Israel’s Technology

The navy is currently undergoing a major force build-up

Institute, and has served in the navy for 33 years. As

and overhaul. There are many fronts to achieve, while

head of material command, he is in charge, among other

remaining innovative from their bases, to boats and

things, of technology and innovation in the navy. It’s

submarines. Green energy is one area they are exploring

his job to keep navy innovation afloat (pun intended).

and they have quite a few successes under their belt.

It is clear to see how passionate he is about the work

14 THE FUNNEL

of a missile defense strategy, the navy is putting an

15 THE FUNNEL

CHALLENGE:
One field, which has been evolving in recent years,
is submarines. A submarineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main attribute is
its ability to become invisible. Each submarines
movement underwater provides a unique
acoustic signature which can be identified by
sonar. For decades, the main effort when building
submarines was to create them as smooth and
round as possible to avoid detection by sonar. To
counter this strategy, ten low frequency sonars
have been developed, whose sound is able to
reach greater distances underwater, making it
possible to detect submarines better and over
longer distances.

INNOVATIVE SOLUTION:
Above water, a significant advancement in vessel
design takes its cue from the wings of a bat, whose
angles are so contrived as to appear smaller. It is
possible to apply this angle concept to submarine
design so that the low frequency sonar breaks
in a way that misleads the enemy. Ashkenazi
believes that in the future we will even be capable
of designing diamond-shaped submarines that
will bounce sonar waves to the water surface and
not back to the source. The added benefit is that
submarines will be able to dive deeper.

FAST BOATS, RAPID CHANGES, SLOW SYSTEMS

Other challenges posed for submarines involve the

discussions gain in respect compared to the past

use of satellites for detection, and new methods

methods. Different perspectives are welcomed and

of detection through materials, propulsion and

appreciated. Ashkenazi is also trying to change

so on. Putting all these new challenges together

orthodox mindsets so that criticism and mistakes are

describes the submarine’s target strength. The

seen as an opportunity for learning.

navy is investing a lot of energy into designing new
submarines that include technologies that can
handle these challenges as well as implementing
creative solutions to existing submarines. One of
the most exciting solutions now being implemented
is replacing heavier diesel engines with new
materials and chemical reactions in order to propel
submarines. By combining oxygen and hydrogen,
you can create AIP - Air Independent Propulsion.

Similarly, cooperation is becoming a central part of
the navy’s planning. For example, when designing
a new boat which was built in Germany, the Israeli
navy sent subject matter experts to work with the
Germans, from conception, to change and adjust the
boat’s shape. Creating a product uniquely suited to
Israel’s needs and designed to coast.
One area where this new thinking is being
implemented

is in making navy bases more

environmentally

ENTREPRENEURSHIP COMES
IN DIFFERENT FORMS
As part of a large bureaucratic system, Ashkenazi
admits that the navy cannot usually employ the
tricks and methods that are often used in smaller
more agile systems. They do, however, implement
entrepreneurship tools in order to problem solve.
Learning about internal motivation and evolving
from Fredrik Taylor’s theory, the navy is working
on changing the organizational culture. Its main
concern is how to handle technology that is
becoming obsolete within shorter and shorter
time spans. Ashkenazi says there are a number
of actions he is taking in order to make sure his
commanders and soldiers are able to address

Ashkenazi

mentioned

and implementing creative green energy solutions.
Through this simple change, the navy has already been
able to implement several cost and energy saving
projects. This officer found a system to remotely
monitor energy usage, and the implementation of this
system in one of the bases has been able to save over
6 megawatts of electricity. Another project is using
old submarine batteries instead of throwing them
away, thus creating battery farms that can be used
independently to make electricity.
Another project the navy has the unique ability to
explore and operate is the use of energy generated by
waves. Ashkenazi showed me a video of a prototype
for using a system of buoys and a platform to harness
waves and tides in order to produce electricity.

this and other challenges. One is cultivating a

This project has led to a productive outcome in that

culture of freedom – both in fostering a strong

the navy is able to provide electricity for its own

sense of independent thought and allowing others,

purposes as well as other parties. And here is another

regardless of rank, to express their opinion. While

aspect of innovation that armies rarely deal with:

the navy is still a hierarchical organization, there is

creating a business model and forming partnerships

also a need to create, alongside it, a culture where

with other organizations.

opinions and ideas are not partial to rank, and where

Ashkenazi sees this potential partnership with

younger, junior soldiers can sit in a meeting with the
top brass as equal partners in the discussion.

16 THE FUNNEL

friendly.

an officer who is largely dedicated to researching

civilian organizations as one that still needs to be
developed. One area where this could be further

In this way, joint brainstorming is becoming

explored is partnerships with startups, creating a

more important in the decision-making process.

platform where the navy can post challenges and

As egos are put aside, the outcomes of such

Startups can suggest technological solutions. He

accomplish this – expanding knowledge sharing and
even seconding officers to relevant startups to learn
and experience their culture and technology and to
bring that experience back into the navy.
One of the navy’s limitations is, of course, the security
aspect. They realize they are not able to take as many
risks as private entities, which slows them down.
However, they are more conscious of it now than
in the past and are willing to try out new models of
thought and action to overcome such constraints.
Thus they aim at becoming a pillar of knowledge
and an example of innovative users of cutting-edge
technology.

FREDRICK TAYLOR MANAGEMENT THEORY
One of the most influential people in modern business is Frederick Taylor, an American mechanical
engineer who lived from 1856-1915. As an engineer, Taylor was committed to efficiency and
making processes as simple and successful as possible. Taylor’s scientific management theory
analyzed and synthesized workflows. Simply put, his management theory stated that workers
should hold the positions they are best at and their remuneration should be commensurate with
the amount of work they complete. Taylor was once quoted as saying, “We do not want any
initiative. All we want is for workers to obey the orders we give them, do what we say, and do it
quick.” Furthermore, Taylor recognized that people were primarily motivated by money and, if
they were thus rewarded based on their productivity (piece rates), they would work harder.
While Taylor’s actual practices and theory may not be widely accepted across the globe today,
many of his ideas still influence the business world.
A good illustration of this reward system would be professional sports. Players are paid based
on how they play and how much they contribute to the company or the team. Furthermore, many
of their contracts include bonuses, incentivizing them to play hard and meet certain statistical
levels. Also, many players specialize in certain skills which fill a role or a position on a team. The
best teams usually consist of motivated players who do their specific jobs well. While this is not
what Taylor may have envisioned, many of his theories and ideas greatly affect the sports world.
Pure scientific management theory may not exist in today’s society, but many of its ideas weigh
heavily in the minds of business owners.

17 THE FUNNEL

is also thinking of even more innovative models to

WOULD

INNOVATION

HAVE SAVED KODAK?

By Avichay Cohen // with contribution by Rose Needle

IN THE AREA OF ORGANIZATIONAL GROWTH STRATEGIES, THE MOST UPAND-COMING TREND IS A RISING FOCUS ON CUSTOMER-ORIENTED BUSINESS
MODELS AND A SHIFT AWAY FROM PRODUCT-ORIENTED APPROACHES.

18 THE FUNNEL

Companies across the globe are making a significant
change. Instead of perfecting a certain technology or
service and later focusing on selling techniques, they
are personalizing products and services by zeroing in
on customer needs first. Nike has demonstrated this
alteration in their changing mission statements. Today,
Nike’s vision is to “bring inspiration and innovation to
every athlete in the world;” seventeen years ago, in a
much more directed statement, they aimed to be “the
world’s leading sport and fitness company.”

mentality as it is based on the notion that, although
new medical needs are continually arising, there is still
potential revenue in concentrating on a medical need
that has already been solved, and solving it better.
This traditional method was so embedded in Teva’s
core strategy that the company purchased the generic
division of pharmaceutical company Allergan for $45
billion in 2016. The CEO of Allergan, Brent Saunders, said
of the purchase:

The change from a product-oriented to customer-oriented
approach is on the rise in every market and industry. The
trend requires flexibility and creativity as such a strategy
by its nature does not dictate to the company what to
produce, only who to serve. If organizations are able to
adapt to the customer’s needs decisively, a relationship
in which customers are able to tell the organization
what they require—or even simply what they lack—is
achievable.

“Allergan underwent a change, and the market also
underwent change. We saw much consolidation among
generic companies, and much consolidation also among
innovative companies. We gradually became a much more
innovative company, and we knew that, if we had to decide
where we would put our next dollar, we would prefer to
buy innovative activity and not generic. We stopped being
a generics company... Teva, on the other hand, is built on
its generics business, and is suited to lead consolidation
in the industry, and so the sale was very appropriate.”

In the field of medicine, the most influential
pharmaceutical companies are implementing major
changes by focusing on three new areas: personalized
medicine, preventive rather than reactive treatments,
and biological medicine. Teva, one of the world’s most
prominent pharmaceutical companies, has led the way
in the generic pharmaceutical market for decades. The
generic market rejects the growing customer-oriented

Saunders’ statement demonstrates Allergan’s newfound
commitment to developing new products for specific
clients. The company chose a strategy of innovation
rather than a generic product strategy. As a result, its
market share has retained its value despite Allergan
giving up a significant portion of its activity to Teva.
Meanwhile, Teva has lost 50 percent of its market share
and continues to plummet since the purchase. Teva’s

The example of Teva and Allergan can open discussion
about customer-oriented strategy versus generic
strategy. In the case of pharmaceuticals, the generic
approach does not necessarily equate with the productoriented strategy, as medicines designed for the same
purpose can vary greatly. But the specialized aspect
of product-oriented thinking is not in the medicine—
it’s in the business model. The business model of
generic pharmaceutical companies is rigid and requires
competition on price between the generic company
and the producer of the original drug. Therefore, Teva’s
specialization is in making drugs cheaper than other
pharmaceutical companies, and marketing them
more effectively. Teva places no thought in unfulfilled
customer needs — the original drug producer had already
discovered those needs years before. The generic
pharmaceutical market is well-established, and Teva is
skillfully navigating the existing market to meet fixed
needs in an improved way.
The difference between Teva and Allergan is made
even clearer by an unusual business decision made by
Saunders soon after the sale of Allergan’s generic division
to Teva. Saunders independently announced through
his blog that he intended to limit the rise of Allergan’s
product prices to single-digit percentages each year.
When asked about his motivation for a move that seemed
to serve solely his customers rather than the company,
Saunders answered: “The health care industry has had a

long-standing social contract with patients, physicians,
policy makers and the public at large. It is vital for our
most important constituents—the medical professionals
and the patients who count on us to continue finding
new treatments for their most pressing medical needs.
It will provide an appropriate return on capital for those
taking risks by investing time and talent in the arduous
and uncertain task of developing new treatments.”
Saunders’ bold strategy marks Allergan as the company
leading the pharmaceutical industry into customeroriented thinking. This kind of thinking sees increasing
market share, not from raising prices for medicine or by
selling generic medicine for cheaper than the competition,
but by solving the needs of customers. At its core, this
strategy aligns with the current market trends mentioned
earlier—an increased focus on customer service and
personalization.
Every R&D director today across industries might mention
the cases studies of Teva, Kodak, Nokia, and Blackberry
at the launch of an innovation plan as anecdotal warnings
for what happens when a company fails to innovate.
Innovation is a process which requires being attentive to
the client and the employees, while allowing ideas to grow,
and seizing on revolutionary trends that will eventually
alter the industry. In practice, corporate innovation
concentrates on ideation in a flexible environment; it
emphasizes a new, groundbreaking idea that considerably
improves upon the status quo. Integrating systematic
entrepreneurial practices alongside the ideation process
allows for not only successful ideation but also supports
a flexible validation platform and MVP development
in a more dynamic environment than the standard R&D

Allergan underwent a

change, and the market also
underwent change. We saw
much consolidation among
generics companies, and much
consolidation also among
innovative companies.

19 THE FUNNEL

choice to remain in the generic field does not fully explain
the loss of the market share, but it speaks volumes to the
differences between the two companies in their business
models and the results that this can yield.

WOULD INNOVATION HAVE SAVED KODAK?

process that was customary in most organizations.
Innovation is basic today in the corporate agenda,
and recently employee-driven entrepreneurship—or
“intrapreneurship”—has been discussed at length in
the corporate setting. But would intrapreneurship and
innovation have prevented the downfall of major case
studies? Would an innovative idea have saved Kodak or
Teva or the others?

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN
IDEA AND A STRATEGY
In 1980, Kodak indisputably dominated the market for
photography in the United States, maintaining up to 80
percent of camera sales and 90 percent of film sales.
Alongside their main products, Kodak offered a range
of development and printing services, manufactured
paper for photos, and maintained several factories
that produced millions of gallons of chemicals for
photograph development. 1980 was far from the first
successful year for Kodak, for the company had led
the photography industry for over a hundred years. The
financial success of Kodak inspired innovative trends
such as the first personal camera, taking photos with
a click, color film, developing machines, and printing
solutions. Kodak’s slogan in 1888 was “You press the
button, we do the rest.”
Their slogan represented a similar vision to that of
Henry Ford—to make technology accessible to the
customer in order to serve the business model. In the
case of Kodak, the business model was almost entirely
based on selling film and development chemicals.
In fact, their business model represented more of a
chemical company than a photo company, and the
company’s activities honed in on serving the financial
goals of the chemical division. The slow decline of
Kodak’s stock value began in the 90s with a rise in
competition from Asian companies, led by Fujifilm.
The irreversible downfall of the film photography
industry began only 15 years later in the early 2000s,
due to digital photography technology overcoming the
barriers of quality and price.

20 THE FUNNEL

In 1981, Sony launched the Mavica, the first
commercial electronic camera. The Mavica took
images in black and white, with no film on a floppy
disk (VR) and allowed viewing of the pictures on a
television screen. The camera was not digital, as the

sensor used an analogical signal. Kodak examined
the new technology, and a team of researchers led
by the vice president of marketing mapped the field
of digital photography and presented their findings.
Their conclusions proved to be remarkably accurate
about the future of their industry. The report laid out
the good and bad news for Kodak: the bad news was
that digital technology was certain to replace film. The
good news was that the shift would take at least 10
years to fully come into fruition; until then, prices of
digital photography would be too high, while quality
would be too low. The quality of printing and displays,
the size of the sensors, the speed of the memory,
computing, communication, and more would not
improve to a satisfactory level for years to come.
The extraordinary story behind the collapse of Kodak is
not attributed to the company missing the digital era.
Their failure lies in their knowledge of the inevitable
rise of the digital revolution (including when, how, and
why it will happen) and failing to adapt accordingly. In
several ways, Kodak actually led the digital revolution.
They put out the first electronic camera in 1975, and
the first commercial digital camera that shot in color
(QuickTake 100) was sold by Apple but developed by
Kodak. In 1996, Kodak incorporated a fresh memory
for the first time in digital cameras (DC25) which
also had an internal LCD screen. In spite of these
and countless other notable innovations that Kodak
produced, a steep decline in Kodak’s share began
in 1999 until 2012, when Kodak ultimately filed for
bankruptcy.

SO WHAT HAPPENED THERE?
In 1996, film sales were at an all-time high, as was
Kodak’s share value. But between 1995 and 2005,
digital photography strengthened to the point that
in 2003, more digital cameras were sold in the world
than film cameras. In 2005 alone, film camera sales
declined from 900 million to under 100 million, and the
price of digital cameras settled to under $200, making
the adoption of digital photography accessible and
affordable. In one decade, digital photography had
overcome the obstacles that the digital media industry
had posed, and had enhanced technology to defeat
the hypothesized technical issues that Kodak had
articulated in their 1981 report. The quality of digital
photos was still far behind that of film photography;

While this technology revolution swept the world, the
business model of photography companies changed
to the point of no recognition. Film ceased to be
included in the value proposal, as did film chemicals.
For digital cameras, the majority of the earnings
were collected on selling cameras and developing
photos on paper; thus, the new business model saw a
dramatically lower profit margin, but required a much
smaller operating expense.
Despite Kodak leading the technological breakthrough
from film to digital, the company fell behind in the
transition from a chemical-based to a camera-based
business model. Out of the 120 thousand workers
employed at Kodak, most labored in the areas of
chemicals and paper. In the 2000s, the biggest portion
of profit for the company was still from selling film
and film products. The operations of the company
had always revolved around film and film products;
therefore, Kodakâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s managerial attention focused
almost exclusively on film, as did their marketing
efforts. An example of this detrimental managerial
focus came in 1996, when Kodak developed a hybrid
camera (APS) that shot on film, then stored the data on
a digital file. The product was innovative and novelâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;
but it maintained the business model perception of
film at its core. Kodak soon came to realize that its
customers would not prove as loyal to their decadesold business model as the company was. Once
the digital era came to full fruition, the customers
disappeared in droves. Unlike the analog world, Kodak
discovered that technology in its industry grows
exponentially, and much faster than management
believed-even though the R&D department was fully

Despite Kodak leading

the technological
breakthrough from film to
digital, the company fell
behind in the transition
from a chemical-based
to a camera-based
business model

21 THE FUNNEL

but markedly, the end user appeared satisfied by
the relatively low quality of digital photography in
exchange for the ease of use and dollar savings on
buying and developing film.

WOULD INNOVATION HAVE SAVED KODAK?

aware of the rapid change that had swept their industry.
Before Kodak could act fast enough to radically reduce
its activity and close its factories, it had found itself
in a collapsing film market without the trust of its
shareholders. In 2007, when Kodak had already lost 60
percent of its value, it set into motion a drastic change
that included the closure of most of its factories: Kodak
laid off tens of thousands of workers, and sold patents,
divisions and more. It was too late for Kodak. The market
had lost all trust in the company, and its competitors
had proven themselves as worthy opponents and had
grown rapidly. In effect, Kodak did not lose its credibility
as a technology leader, but as a business leader.

INNOVATION AS A STRATEGIC
COMPONENT
Kodak did not miss out on a revolutionary idea. The
idea had rested on the CEO’s table since 1975, before
any other company. Directly before its downfall, Kodak
was at the height of its power. The company’s loss of
momentum was not noteworthy in the technological
sense, as it led the digital revolution throughout its
ascent in the industry and could have continued to
lead if it had chosen to do so. However, Kodak did not
choose to continue leading—it chose the film business
model. This case study is especially striking and is
used to describe what is in store for companies who
lack innovative processes and ideas.

22 THE FUNNEL

Today, it is apparent that innovation by itself, in the
manner it is usually carried out - focusing on idea
generation and products, would not have saved Kodak.
Large companies are more inclined to generate ideas
and innovations when it comes to products; in some
cases, innovation gravitates toward manufacturing
processes and marketing efforts. But rarely are these
large organizations invested in challenging their own
business model and growth strategy. The business
model of big businesses is deeply rooted in KPI
process knowledge structures, which are supported by
thousands of activities both on the front and back end of
the organization. Challenging the business model, as a
result is so complex that organizations inherently oppose
even the mere discussion of it. Looking back on the big
case studies (Kodak, Teva, Nokia), it becomes apparent
that the only corrective course of action would have been
to challenge the company’s own business model.

LAYERS OF INNOVATION
A popular theory in successful business transformation
suggests approaching innovation in layers using
McKinsey’s Three Horizon model. Horizon 1 centers
on improving and fine-tuning the current value proposal.
Horizon 2 focuses on new business opportunities in the
current field of specialization. Horizon 3 concentrates
on disruptive opportunities that alter the market, or
are unrecognizable from the core activities of the
organization. In most companies today, a process
devoted to the first horizon can be found that consists
mainly of gathering ideas and handing them over to
the R&D department. Some organizations also feature
a unit dedicated to Horizon 3 in the form of an elite
innovation unit full of visionaries, constantly searching
for outstanding opportunities in which to grow.
However, neither of the above-mentioned activities
challenges the business model. The former is based
on the current business model, while the latter is
committed to a business model for a completely novel
product. In the current literature, Horizon 2 is usually
described as the mediator between Horizon 1, where
the organization prepares to embrace innovative
processes, and Horizon 3, where the organization
is executing those processes. However, the second
horizon is often not mentioned as an independent
activity. When analyzing the case studies, Horizon 1
and Horizon 3 are clearly at work. The companies do
not lack ideas or vision. But in none of those companies
was there a plan that aimed to transform their standard
business model.
In the case of the past generation’s success stories
such as Airbnb, Gett, or Amazon, each has offered an
existing service under a new and destructive business
model. Airbnb, for example, did not invent renting
rooms or the hospitality industry; they instead totally
reinvented the business model of typical organizations
in their field. In reaction, hotels all over the world are
currently doing whatever they can to improve their
service (Horizon 1) and invest in new fields (Horizon
3). But they have still failed to convert their business
model (Horizon 2) because no one dares to question
milking the cow.
Facebook announced recently that it is examining the
distribution of balloons with transmitters to provide
Internet access to remote areas. Amazon is changing
their distribution model, and Microsoft are shifting from

When HBS professor Clayton Christensen introduced
the concept of disruptive innovation in his book The
Innovator’s Dilemma, it was a revelation. In his study
of why good firms fail, he found that what is normally
considered best practice - listening to customers,
investing in continuous improvement, and focusing on
the bottom line - can be lethal in some situations. In a
nutshell, what he discovered is that, when the basis of
competition changes, because of technological shifts or
other changes in the marketplace, companies can find
themselves getting better and better at things people
want less and less. When that happens, innovating your
products won’t help - you have to innovate your business
model.

SO HOW DO YOU INNOVATE
A BUSINESS MODEL?
Innovating a company’s business model must be fueled
by a managerial understanding that there is always a
high probability anyone could enter and change the
game of the market. It is impossible to know how,
or when, but it is likely to happen despite consulting
clients being skeptical of the possibility. Based on an
organization’s past experience, upper management can
produce a million reasons why the new business model
is impossible to execute; and by the time they can be
convinced otherwise, it is too late. The realization that

the imminent transformation of the market is lurking is
all that can lay the foundation of the mandate that the
organization gives to its innovation division.
The innovation division’s mandate primarily aims to
disrupt the company’s business model assumptions and
collaterals. This division must be led by an entrepreneur
who is independent in his or her pursuit to transform
the organization and liberate it from the constraints
of the R&D division. Alongside the entrepreneur must
stand a manager that believes in the entrepreneur, and
is aware of how to communicate to the company and
lead the steering committee in an innovation process
that leverages the resources and advantages of the
organization. The process of developing innovative
solutions must be presented linearly so that employees
can easily measure it, discuss it, and scale it, but must
be executed chaotically for true innovative output.
The innovation unit requires a group devoted to second
horizon solutions who continually attempt to prove that
the current business model is obsolete. The trick to this
effort is that the group must simultaneously advocate
for a new business model’s efficacy. In other words, you
must sell the business model to management rather
than sell a technology to customers. This inevitably
means that the group dedicated to Horizon 2 competes
with its own organization—with the same clients and
the same service. The tactic is extreme, but is the only
prevention for the failure of the companies like Kodak.
Once or twice a year, a representative of the Horizon 2
group must put on a suit, arrive at the board meeting,
and present a plan to defy the company’s current
business model.
The more the board members
appear uncomfortable with the proposal, the more
effective it is likely to be. It may be naïve to believe in
the ability of the organization to give a mandate to the
entrepreneur to potentially undermine its own existence,
but the approach is manageable, given the combined
understanding of large organizations and entrepreneur
enterprises.

23 THE FUNNEL

a purchase business model to a membership business
model. The leading companies in their markets are
openly renovating their business models and focusing
on the second horizon. But this approach is rare, and not
the generally accepted norm. Amazon is an exemplar
of an organization that does not rest in its effort to
expand and challenge all horizons. The beauty in their
approach is that they do not ask their employees which
new products to develop, or which new market to find;
instead, they ask what methods they can use to change
how they operate.

INNOVATION IN ZIM:

IT’S ABOUT
THE BUSINESS
Interview with Eyal Ben Amram, CIO of ZIM

ZIM IS PART OF WHAT MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND – LITERALLY. ROUGHLY
90% OF WORLD TRADE IS CARRIED OUT BY THE INTERNATIONAL MARITIME
SHIPPING INDUSTRY AND THERE ARE OVER 50,000 MERCHANT SHIPS TRADING
INTERNATIONALLY, TRANSPORTING EVERY KIND OF CARGO
As an industry, maritime shipping is not known for its
technological advancement or commitment to innovation.
However, Chief Innovation Information Officer, Eyal Ben
Amram says there is an understanding that the industry,
which has hit hard times in the past few years, needs to
embrace the new vision.
Zim is now taking a few cues from the aviation industry,
exploring revenue management and dynamic pricing.
They are also exploring working with bots, digitizing, and
expanding their e-commerce presence in order to reach
smaller Small/Medium Enterprise (SME) customers.

CHALLENGES
The main challenge Zim is facing is a price decline, which
affects the entire industry. Its only chance to recover is to
become more profitable. One of the main ways of doing
that is reaching the end customers directly and cutting out
the middle man, as well as enlarging the customer pool.

24 THE FUNNEL

But doing this is easier said than done. Shipping is
considered a low-tech industry that is behind on technology.
It needs to “skip a step” and move directly to current
technology, rather than adopting the previous generation.
The good news is that they have taken up the challenge and
are carrying out different complementary processes. Their
present focus is on digitization (easy to do business) and
smart systems.

THE MOVING PARTS OF INNOVATION
Innovation is a company-wide effort. Zim has adopted
the design thinking method and is now in the process
of implementing Agile management techniques in the
different departments. There are a number of different
departments and processes, both internal and external,
put in place in order to insure the best results.
While they don’t have an incubator per se, working with
startups plays a big part in what they do. Eyal says they
usually try to be the startups’ first large partner. They don’t
have a specific focus but work with a variety of startups
dealing with AI, predictive analytics, cyber and more. One
area they are excited to take part in is blockchain and they
will soon be the first carrier to implement a bill of lading.
At the same time, Zim have set up a new department within
the IT to define the technology, vision and to help select
and implement external innovation tools. This department
has proven to be very dominant in the innovation processes
Zim is performing.
Zim is also ramping up their e-commerce activity and
creating a new website. This will provide more digital
services and will be accessible to private and smaller end
customers. Recently Zim recruited a Chief Digital Officer,
whose role will focus on plotting a digital roadmap for the
company.

HOW TO MEASURE SUCCESS
It is a challenge to quantify the direct contribution of
innovation to the company’s revenue, but Zim management
work hard to define KPIs in advance. They also choose
projects based on ROI estimations and make sure to
establish standards and measure implementation.

WHY INNOVATE?
Eyal mentions that Zim has several objectives when it comes
to innovation. Part of their goal is to create an innovative
brand. Another component is to improve productivity and
increase their revenue profitability. Their projects usually
have a combined objective. For example, their work with
blockchain stems both from the future profit potential and
from their desire to be industry leaders in that field.
For Eyal, Innovation is not just about technology: it is largely
about business, and business-oriented thinking. Even with
the most exciting technology, if the business partner is not
there it’s not going to work.

www.linkedin.com/in/benamrameyal

25 THE FUNNEL

For innovation to be successful, it has to be business
savvy. So, apart from working with startups and the
technology vision department, an important part of the
innovation mechanism in Zim is the BI unit. This is a strong
unit, which is able to provide business tools – analyze
a customer’s profitability and create accurate analysis.
Eyal says its importance cannot be stressed enough.
No matter how innovative the technology, it is likely that
implementation will fail if it is not strictly aligned with the
business goals and the business units.

A couple of years ago, El-Al airlines took the bold step of
setting up its own venture fund dedicated to finding new
technology and ventures in the field of Aviation. It set up
Cockpit, headed by Henry Chen Weinstein.
Cockpit is the first aviation industry venture fund with
the mission to support and invest in entrepreneurs with
disruptive technologies in digital travel, aviation and
aerospace. In addition, El Al cockpit partnered with other
major airlines such as Lufthansa, Jet Blue and other
players in the aviation industry.
Cockpit works as a strategic venture fund with startups
anywhere between seed and B stage. Their goal is to
reinvent the aviation and aerospace industries.

TRANSFORMING THE AVIATION INDUSTRY
Much like other industries, aviation, specifically, and travel,
in general are going through a digitization process. It is
very much a human-based industry where much of the
work is carried out by skilled technicians rather than being
automated. But there is still a lot of room for improvement.
Aviation used to be at the forefront of e-commerce about a
decade ago but has seen stagnation since.
It’s interesting to note that the travel industry, and civil
aviation as a segment of that, has been very active in the
past few years, seeing some of the biggest startups that
have emerged, for instance, Uber, Airbnb and others.

26 THE FUNNEL

STRATEGY AND INVESTMENT
Cockpit has a dual purpose - finding promising investment
opportunities as well as finding strategic growth
opportunities for El Al and the other partners.
Although these two goals may appear to be conflicting at
times, Henry Chen Weinstein has found that, while short

term strategies may not align, investments can still be
valuable in the long-term, industry-wide strategy.
The partners also strive to provide value for the startups
they invest in, and will sometimes help a startup even if
they are not investing in it.
The players are also working closely with El-Al’s innovation
unit, which is a close partner. Henry believes that,
without the close cooperation with them, there would be
significantly less implementation.
Bringing Startups and corporations together can be
challenging on both ends. From the corporate side, it’s
about changing minds - making people who are used to
working in a certain way realize there is opportunity in a
new way of thinking and working, and embracing it. The
initiative has to come from management and work its way
down.
the challenges from the startup side are mainly about
working with different people on understanding the
corporate value chain and creating value for different
people along that chain.
The main tool is cooperation with people within Cockpit’s
team and with their partners. Henry believes that
cooperation among leading actors is crucial in order to
make the big changes the industry needs.

Henry Chen Weinstein
CEO @ Cockpit Innovation (Corporate VC) //
Founder @ TLV StartUp Challenge // Forbes 30 Under 30.
Started his career in technology roles in government
and the in the startup ecosystem. Worked with Different
Organizations on incorporating startups

27 THE FUNNEL

,
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E
R
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,
O
S
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N
U HACKATHO

INNOVATION GYMS:

AND EVERYTHING { IN BETWEEN }

By Yifat Tubiner

THE ABILITY TO INNOVATE IS THE SECRET
SAUCE FOR SUCCESS IN BUSINESS
From time to time we are exposed to impressive
entrepreneurial stories. These men and women thought
of a brilliant idea, brought it to fruition and received
glory and a tidy sum of money. Most of our readers are
probably thinking to themselves that the ability to be an
entrepreneur and innovator is a God-given talent, bestowed
upon a chosen few - either you have “it” or it’s not for you.

28 THE FUNNEL

This is where the good news comes in for those of us
who haven’t yet discovered our innovative skills. There is
hope for you yet! It turns out that, contrary to the notion
that entrepreneurs and innovators were born that way,
innovation and entrepreneurial abilities can be taught.
Even if you are not one of the lucky few who are naturally
creative and innovative, don’t despair; it is possible to
learn, nurture and enhance these skills. What’s more,
it is possible and even recommended to do so inside
organizations. How? By actively adopting certain patterns
of behavior.
An eight year collaborative study set out to examine the
roots and formation of innovative and groundbreaking
business ideas. Researchers looked at about 100
inventors of breakthrough products and services as well
as CEOs and founders of companies who had changed
their markets (most of them well known to the public).
The study found that five “Discovery skills” make all the
difference between the ground-breaking innovators and
the rest. It is important to note that not all entrepreneurs

are innovators – for example, opening a KFC branch is
entrepreneurial but not innovative, while starting Amazon
is innovative and requires a different set of skills. These
skills, according to the researchers, form what we tend to
refer to as the innovator’s DNA.

THE GOOD NEWS: ACT DIFFERENT,
THINK DIFFERENT
Surprisingly, researchers discovered that these “discovery
skills” are actually well defined patterns of behavior. The
first one is Asking questions. Not just any question but
rather ones that challenge the status quo and attempt
to reach the root of the problem, challenge assumptions
or preconceived notions: Why is it like this? What would
happen if...? The second skill is Observation, in the
anthropological sense of the word, like conducting an
in-depth examination of phenomena or different actors
as a source of inspiration. Innovators, according to the
research, continuously and consistently search for the
little behavioral patterns of customers, service providers
and other business entities in order to gain insight into
new ways of doing things. The third skill is Experience.
This basically means viewing the world as a huge lab
where you can experiment with new ideas in order to
gain knowledge and experience. In this lab, failures are
a part of the process. The fourth skill is Networking. It
means actively seeking to meet other people from varying
fields, devoting time and energy to discuss new ideas,

The researchers recommend practicing such behaviors
until they become automatic, and part of our natural
behavior. In this way, they claim, we can improve our
entrepreneurial and innovative skills and, as a direct result,
our organization’s performance.
While we can agree that these skills are important and I
want to practice them, often, urgent tasks keep pushing
them back. Similar to going to the gym the daily to-do list
keeps pushing my practice back. What can be done?

IN JEANS AND T-SHIRT
Turns out that beneath the surface, some will say, in
the “entrepreneurial ecosystem’s twilight zone” are the
“training arenas.” These arenas are actually events where
entrepreneurship and innovation events take place in a
less formal setting, which some of us know as meetups,
hackathons, unconferences etc.
Gatherings and meetings between entrepreneurs are
hardly a new phenomenon and can be traced back to early

civilization (whether it was the marketplace in ancient
times, medieval guilds or Renaissance cafés). In our day,
the accelerated pace of technological development has,
paradoxically, enhanced the spread of people-to-people
events in a physical space, in addition to and separate from
the digital space and online communities. Cross-checking
different sources of information teaches us that, in the
last decade, meetups and other physical interactions are
becoming more and more common worldwide, and there
are hundreds of thousands of events being conducted
every week.
Many of these gatherings happen after work hours and
are an almost perfect arena to practice discovery skills.
They are characterized by an open atmosphere and a
flexible format which invites people (usually strangers) to
be active, ask controversial questions, give their opinion,
share their knowledge and experience, and meet people
from different disciplines who they probably would not
have met otherwise.
Even though different researchers agree that these events
have a significant impact on the formation and activity of
the innovation ecosystem, measuring their effects, even
in a small system like Israel is a challenge. Many times,
these are organized from the bottom up – spontaneous
initiatives that grow and are led by different players in the
ecosystem and their location and schedule are distributed
in a very informal way, usually on social media (and not
likely on official channels). Having said that, the fact that
most of the participants (consciously or subconsciously)
practice their discovery skills, improving and enhancing
their innovation and entrepreneurship skills may suggest
their cumulative effect beyond the single participant - on
the innovation ecosystem as a whole.

Even though different

researchers agree that these
events have a significant
impact on the formation and
activity of the innovation
ecosystem, measuring their
effects, even in a small system
like Israel is a challenge

29 THE FUNNEL

and validating them through a network of people who
have different viewpoints and can add to and enrich our
knowledge. Associative thinking is the last skill – the
ability to successfully connect problems, questions or
ideas from different fields, which seem to be disconnected.
Associative thinking is a mental muscle that can grow by
using the other four skills, which are mostly behavioral.
When we act on these behaviors, the researchers claim,
we are actually creating and improving our ability to grow
new ideas by connections from different sources.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY LESSONS FROM
POLLINATION
If we try to examine other worlds, botany, for example,
we discover that we can describe these meetings as
“The innovation ecosystems pollination mechanism.” In
nature, pollination refers to the process where pollen is
transferred from flower to flower. This is an important
step which precedes fertilization in plants. Fertilization
itself occurs when a male reproductive cell merges with
a female reproductive cell. A zygote develops from the
fertilized egg, which develops into an embryo. Similarly,
in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship, pollination
happens by transferring information from one individual
to the next. The pollination stage will usually precede
the ideation stage. Fertilization will occur when different
pieces of information merge into an idea. The idea might
grow into a venture or more. The plant world teaches us
that, even though plants can self-pollinate (when pollen
fertilizes a plant with the same genetic makeup), this is
not an ideal situation for most plants. It creates genetic
copies instead of new gene combinations.
What about innovation? Here too, working in a closed,
homogenous network is not the ideal environment as it
usually brings more of the same ideas. The ideal situation
is what botany calls “cross pollination.” This happens in
the entrepreneurial world when individuals act in an open,
heterogenous network in which information flows in and
out to create new knowledge combinations that can evolve
into successful innovative ventures and projects.

30 THE FUNNEL

To conclude: if you haven’t yet, make sure to take part
in events like the ones described in this article. Go to
meetups that deal with things that interest you, make sure
to participate in hackathons, unconferences or events like
them. Treat them like workouts for your innovation skills.
That’s exactly what they are.

Yifat turbiner is a PhD candidate in the Gilford Glaser Faculty
for Management in Ben Gurion University. In addition, she is
a mentor in different acceleration programs. She specializes
in innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems; open
innovation and international cooperation.
Yifat has 20 years’ of experience in Business development
roles in hightech.
The Innovator’s DNA. Dyer, Jeffrey H., Gregersen, Hal and
Christensen, Clayton M. 2009, Harvard Business Review